The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1887-09-14
Che 8ailg 9nlletin,
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. IA, 1887.
FINDING A LOST MINES.

In an interview with a Chicago
reporter, Nj. j. Powers, an old
Comstock miner, thus relates the
discovery of q lost Spanish mine in
Mexico:
Leaving Sahnarija with three
natives, and mounted on buTos, l
first followed the Rio Aquera Verda
for two weeks, until its junction with
Mulatos river, at the village Of Mu-
latos, satisfied me that was on the
trail. Lthen followed the Mulatos
north to its junction with the Aras
river. This, in turn, ] followed UNI
til preached an Indian village on
the Chihuahua line. Here l eX-
pected some information, but the
Indians, while not hostile, were UNI
communicative and Indifferent.
at was plain to see that they
we're mossbacks and did not want
any white people in the country. l
then, left to my own resources,
started due west over the desert
and the sierras. Never in my life
did pass through wilder country.
Towering mountains, deep gorges,
with fierce streams darting over
their beds, boxed canons that end
ed in no thoroughfare. There was
no trail, and our progress could not
have exceeded five miles on some
days. Often we would make a de-
tour Of five or six miles to get to a
place 1000 feet below us. There
was nothing to eat in the country.
A person who would go in there
without provisions would starve.
One day | came on to the ruins of q
village. There were traces of adobe
huts, long since razed, that had
clustered about church, the walls
of which were in a good state
of preservation. The interior of the
building was about 130x70 feet, and
i saw at a glance that the structure
must be over two hundred years
old. What was this ruin in the
heart of the mountains? What but
one of the abandoned Spanish
towns? The mine could not be far
away. l grew strangely excited,
but l kept my wits about me, and
prepared for a systematic search of
the vicinity. Il burn, said | to my
self, recalling the expression used
in the childish game of hide the
button. Two days passed, and my
spirits began TO fail, when one day
| managed TO lose my companions.
l shouted again and again. They
were looking for me, and at last l
heard them call. Shouting for them
to remain where they were on the
mountain-side, / started for them
in a straight line, my burro scramb-
ling over the rocks like goat.
"Suddenly l stopped. l grew
hot and cold. l trembled all over
like a man with an ague. My heart
stood still. l rubbed my eyes. No,
1 could not be mistaken. There
right before me was the unmistak-
able evidence of a roadway hewn
out of the solid rock. l knew / had
found the mine, and l said, 'Eureka'
1t was some time before | could pull
myself together, and then l called my
men. Trembling with excitement,
l followed the road. Round and
round the mountain it wound. 1t
was a very creditable piece of en-
cheering, and must have cost as
much as $4,000 in the primitive
times when it was built. 1t led to
the very cone of the mountain, and
here is where l found untold mil
lions that have been lost to the
world for nearly q century. Two
enormous chambers cut out of the
rock gave some idea of the magni-
tude of the mine. Shafts were sunk
in the floors of quartz. They are
choked up with drift and vegetation,
and / had no means of exploring
them. Why should l? 1 knew
what the mine was. l cared moth
ing for details l looked around for
the dump-pile and saw no evidence
of one. Maryeling much at this, 1
retraced my steps to the foot of the
mountain, when everything was
made plain to me. Ranged in a
sami-circle about a clear and power
full spring which burst from the
living rock, l counted seventy aras-
tras, the circular pit used in print
tive times for the crushing of ore.
| need enter into no details about